You are welcome, Mr President

Today we should welcome the President of the USA to the UK on a state visit.

The USA is our principal military ally. Her leading presence in NATO has been crucial to our safety over the last seventy years, as we have dealt with the Soviet threat of the 1950s and 1960s, and the more complex and various threats to our security of more recent years. The USA is the world’s most powerful democracy. The UK is one of the world’s oldest and most experienced democracies. Together we project democratic values, argue for freedom, defend free speech and free enterprise, and stand up against dictatorships, genocides and abuse of power.

Many MPs and some of my constituents dislike Mr Trump and say we should not afford him the courtesies of a state visit. The MPs and protesters have done all in their power to limit where he can go and what he can do whilst in our country. I regret that. I will be honouring the office of President. The whole point of a State visit is it bestows on the State visitor the trappings of power whilst with us and confirms the power of the office the visitor holds. We respect the office, whilst reserving the right to disagree with the office holders politics, words and actions as an international politician. On many a state visit a visitor has been told in private communications exactly what the UK’s position is on issues of the day and how we would like the visitor’s country to change or to accommodate our views.

On this visit I will find myself in agreement with Mr Trump over Brexit and the UK’s good future outside the EU. The President urged Mrs May, as I and others did, to take a firmer line in the talks she held with the EU to get a better deal. Unfortunately she was tarnished with the view that Mr Trump was a difficult person for UK tastes and did not accept his good advice. She failed to follow up promptly and vigorously on his offer to see if we can agree a Free Trade Agreement between our two countries, to sign as soon as we leave the EU.

I agree with Mr Trump’s policy of promoting prosperity by lower tax rates and selective higher public spending. We can learn a lot from the much faster growth rate in the USA than in Europe. I agree with the President that the West needs to ensure cyber security at a time of unprecedented technological challenge, which will have an impact on our commercial alliances. I also agree with his approach to Middle Eastern politics, where he has bombed less and not intervened on the ground in the belief that further military intervention will not help. This is a welcome change from Presidents Bush, Clinton and Obama.

I study why some so dislike Mr Trump. They argue that his wish to secure US borders and to build a wall at the Mexican frontier is unacceptable. They did not say the same when Mr Clinton built a substantial wall along part of that frontier, or when various EU countries rushed up walls at the height of the migration crisis in 2015-16. They say his attitude to women in unacceptable, though he has not stood accused of improper relations with a young female intern in the way Mr Clinton was. They dislike some of his language about migrants. They think that underlying his policies are intolerant attitudes towards foreigners and unpleasant attitudes towards women. I am not here to apologise for all that he has done in his private life before becoming President nor to defend all his tweets.

I say to his critics we should respect the democratic decisions of our ally, and leave it to US politics to decide what are acceptable attitudes in their democracy. We do not go into the failings and wrong doings of State visitors from tyrannies and monarchies abroad, but we let them come and make their own statements. We have entertained dreadful people from thug states without a murmur of protest from MPs. Why be less courteous to a democratic ally who has stood the ultimate test of democratic scrutiny and media fury in his own free country? I do not agree with some of the things Mr Trump says, and sometimes disagree with his policies as with features of his trade war that have a wide adverse impact. I do think we should welcome Mr Trump to understand him better and to collaborate with the USA as ally and friend in as many ways as are to our mutual advantage.

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234 Comments

Whether you like him or loathe him as a person, it is so good that the visit of Donald Trump is about to commence. I see, however, the MSM are already up in arms about any US trade deal means ‘the NHS being up for sale’ and spouting more rubbish about chlorinated chicken.

Whilst I hear from friends in the UK that something drastic needs to be done with the NHS, it sounds like scaremongering to suggest it is up for sale to the Americans. The chlorinated chicken scare purely reflects the protectionist approach of the EU and all those UK Europhiles who continue to try to prevent us leaving.

We need our own ‘Donald Trump’, someone who can get the job done, and I do hope that his prioritisation of the needs of his country can be taken up by whoever is the next PM. The USA is a great ally and the ability to strike a trade deal with them, unencumbered by the self-interested restraints of an inward-looking EU, will be great for the future of the UK.

I do hope that the whole country, certain politicians and Mayors included, affords President Trump the welcome and the respect that this epic state visit warrants. At least his friendship is genuine and does not come with an £18 billion a year price tag.

Corbyn willingly meets the most vile people/ organizations in the world but refuses to meet Mr Trump. We read Mayhab banns Farage from meeting Trump in any official meeting/dinner.

Obama welcomed by MPs when he overtly disliked the U.K.; he hammered BP and it took Cameron to send a diplomat to make official repserntations to get him to stop!

Parliament has become a swamp. Time for a clean out. General election please. Peterborough will give an advanced view of people’s views this week.

How many Tory candidates are actually conservative or display conservative values? Some running main themes in stark contrast to EU referendum promises and manifesto promises! That will,warm the public to the Tory party!

Mayhab and the”girls” from cabinet happy to have dinner with a Putin confidant who paid thousands for the privilege against Mayhab’s condemnation of Putin for Skrippel poisoning, but not allow Farage to dinner with Trump! Strange woman.

How the public warm to these traitors. I can’t begin to think why everyone is turning to Brexit Party. Huge turn out from people all around the country to campaign in Peterborough for the Brexit Party.

Tory hopefuls all declearing plans when thy had one main one leave by the 29/03/2019 with or without a deal. They failed on the party’s main single plan. They failed to oust Mayhab when she betrayed the country on this after declaring it 108 times one all sorts of scenarios from her own party! Why do these people think the public will believe them ever again?

I am waiting for Grieve, Letwin, Hammondx2 Lee, Clarkex2, Gauke, Rudd, Soubry, Wollaston and Allen to declare. Better still, as a matter of survival, associations to get rid of them.

I Hope too…..that the associations of Grieve, Letwin, Hammondx2 Lee, Clarkex2, Gauke, Rudd, Soubry, Wollaston and Allen see sense and unload them. I believe the seeds of lack of confidence were already sown for some of them, the 5 strong Inds lead by Sour Berry. I fear with the present Tory party some will be moved to the other House by way of hiding them away.

Said MSM interviewing Emma Thomson this morning. No awkward questions about her travelling by air first class and choosing the beef dinner. Andrea Leadsom on the other hand has to be interrupted and challenged continuously.
Different rules apply when it’s their luvvies.

Indeed a questions such as “if you care about global warming why are you not prepared to fly economy to circa half your emissions?” or “Is being slightly cramped for a few hours to save the planet beneath you?” or “Why do you want to support a group who want to break the laws, disrupt people’s lives and commit economic terrorism by closing the airports you use?

Indeed the real questions for Andrea Leadsom is why one earth did she support May’s putrid WA three times and stay in the Cabinet so long? Had you not read of understood how appalling it is perhaps? Why did you drop out of the contest to lead the party so easily last time (when a few of May’s henchmen pathetically got at you just because May had no children).

I just heard Rory Stewart on Ferrari LBC. He is put continuation Theresa. What part of 9% conservative support did he not get. He also talked silly numbers over potential car exports to the EU (almost in the Dianne Abbott mode) to the EU and even thinks electric cars “decarbonise”. They do nothing of the sort of themselves. To make them alone uses masses of carbon and you still have to generate the electricity.

Oh and yes Khan is indeed “a stone cold loser who should focus on crime in London”. He only became Mayor as the Tories could not find a good candidate. Well said Trump straight, true and to the point.

LL….and what are we going to do to recycle say 2m rechargeable battery packs up to 5 years from now, and another 5m the 5 years after that? Currently it is stated Britain has approx 18m petrol cars, and 12m diesel. Thats an awful lot to phase out, recycle, and establish charging infrastructure for say 10m electric replacements. Then there is the small matter of most electric car batteries use lithium nickel manganese cobalt oxide (NMC) cathodes and graphite anodes. “Rare earth” metals dysprosium, neodymium and terbium, chiefly mined in China and used in some electronic components of the motor. What if the West upsets China enough to stop supply?

I tend to agree she should not have stood down and she should not have supported May’s and her appalling, misguided, left wing, pro-EU, identity politics administration and her £39 billion handcuff treaty. I can only assume she did not read or understand it (or perhaps she is just another traitor like May).

The planet is quite literally beneath Thomson because she is usually 50,000 feet above it, etc ed.

I agree re Leadsom. I have always thought that her dropping out was an engineered pretext – nothing that would cause anything remotely career-ending and lo and behold, she emerges and Leader of the Commons.

Not to be trusted. The same is true of all the candidates though – starting with the WA is not the way to do this. That said…

They have to get past the MPs to get to the final two, so some degree of lying and low cunning will be involved. The question is: who do we trust based on their actions (throughout the Brexit process to date), not their words?

The answer may be ‘none of the above’, since WTO is probably now the only thing to save the Tories from oblivion (it’s the only thing that would make me consider voting for them again) – in which case…

Prime Minister Farage may soon be a reality; turquoise is the new blue – and the new red.

Pominoz said: “… his friendship is genuine and does not come with an £18 billion a year price tag”. It was ever thus: the English (establishment) buy their enemies and sell their friends; as the well known proverb goes. And that explains the Remains position of paying the EU and hating the USA.

The EU failed to sign a free trade agreement with US; the issue was not chlorinated chicken but organised resistance to the EU Commission inflicting TTIP on us.
If the Tories remove us, cleanly, from the clutches of the predatory EU, which is by no means certain, then the temptation to sign such a prestigious trade deal without checking the small print as with the so-called Withdrawal Agreement would be great for such an incompetent government; however, we need to remind ourselves that nations have interests not friends and the US will be looking to maximise its advantage in return for such a political coup. The essence of TTIP was its deprecation of the nation state in favour of multi-national corporations and their power to demand recompense for loss of profits when governments attempted to protect customers and patients from what governments deemed unfair or inappropriate foreign commercial involvement. Adjudication of disputes would also be by extra-national courts; get rid of the ECJ and get something with no national oversight of any sort? The red herring of chlorinated chicken should not hide the more relevant issue of the need to succour our home food production after we leave the CAP and not attack our livestock industry with cheap imported growth hormone accelerated beef.

At around 9:50 today on Sky news, Adam Bolton presented Simon Scharmer with an unchallenged platform to rage a disgusting diatribe against President Trump. This is yet another example of blatant bias in MSM against anyone or political party they do not agree with.

The US ambassador did not say the NHS was up for sale. he simply said that US companies should have the right to compete to sell [drugs, equipment, healthcare services etc] to purchasers in the UK, the main one of which is of course the NHS. Australia has a comprehensive FTA with the US which includes agricultural products.

As the Ambassador pointed out, c 5m UK citizens pa visit the US – I’ve been one of them as perhaps you have – and do not drop dead, get food poisoning or otherwise complain of food standards. It is pure protectionism by the EU.

Exactly. Anyway the NHS is an dreadful state monopoly, rationing system and is in desperate need of reform (and some fair competition from other far more efficient organisations). Freedom and choice for patients please rather than pay in advance and get treated if and when the NHS feels like it.

That isn’t what the US Ambassador said margaret.
He was asked about a trade deal and did he hope it would cover all trade areas.
If the USA could sell is cheaper drugs and equipment for the NHS and safe us millions are you still going to be opposed?

Your claim of selling off the NHS is Project Fear 3.0 Andy.
We didn’t believe your Project Fear 1.0 befire the Referendum, which didn’t come true
Project Fear 2.0 is unravelling as we speak.
So you can probably realise I am not going to be taken in by your latest ridiculous predictions.

Poor Andy. Many of us have private healthcare provision. Many of us have received treatment abroad.
Some of us are well-travelled enough to be able to compare world-wide medical facilities, and realise that standards vary widely everywhere, all through North America, throughout the Far East, the South Pacific, and so on.
You think you are being superior – but in fact you are displaying your rather pathetic naivety.

You claimed he said the NHS was up for sale
That is nonsense.
Part of Project Fear 3.0 and inherent in the Left’s dislike of all things American.
You also never answered my question to you Margaret which was, would you therefore refuse America the ability to sell us drugs, medicines, equipment or other supplies to the NHS which happened to be cheaper.
Thus saving the NSH millions.
Yes or No.

The NHS IS NOT HEALTHCARE . The NHS is a collection of hospitals (many of which are already technically privately owned due to PFI ) and a top down, centralised government department

In order for anyone to buy it , 1) What would they be selling exactly? The few hospitals that are left? Or 2) The department of Health & NHS trusts .

The trouble with lefty remainers is they never think through things in the real world .

What the ambassador was referring to was the ability to sell drugs and medical equipment into the UK .

By the way you might want to think about how much control the US already has over the NHS . For instance EVERY SINGLE computer and computer system run by the NHS is driven by US software

The trouble is the whole EU project is designed to take on the USA , and its supporters like you see it in those terms a fight for supremacy . Most Brexiteers prefer to trade with people that offer the best products/services whether they are German, US or Chinese

Twisting and spinning words in a pedantic fashion margaret makes no difference.
Where is the answer to my twice asked question, would you refuse a trade deal with America if it saved the NHS millions on the costs of drugs medicines and other products currently only available from the EU?
Actually the headline again does not refer to what he really said.
Such is the propaganda and fake news thrown against the President.

Oh dear Margaret, next time you’re in your local swimming pool make sure you ask them to take the chlorine out before you go in. Perhaps you had better stop drinking or using water from our taps too. What a silly billy.

Margaret Howard, That is lying; the USA ambassador said no such thing. He was talking about USA businesses being able to sell to the NHS. The NHS is government owned therefore cannot be up for sale unless our own government decides to do so.

And that is a choice for us, not the USA, unlike being in the EU where we can only pay and obey. We would also have a choice about USA water cooled chicken – we do not have to buy it or eat it. Your views are propaganda simplistic anyway. All chlorine treatments carry a risk, including our own tap water. But the risks of not treating water, and chicken, is far greater.

I find it somewhat hypocritical to hear the greenies moan about chlorinated chicken in the USA but disregard the disgraceful pollution that occurs in Indonesia, India, China, Bangladesh and others. If anyone watched the programme about the shocking effects of clothing manufacturers chemical and waste abuses on our environment they would stop buying clothes to throw away.

You people seem utterly besotted with ‘chlorinated chicken’. Why is that?
Perhaps it hasn’t occurred to you that you don’t HAVE to purchase meat from abroad – or indeed, any meat at all.
There’s such a thing as freedom of choice. Heard the expression?

Oh my word you are stupid or lying. The issue of the NHS is the ability of US pharma to sell drugs to NHS ( drugs that are much cheaper than currently being bought by NHS)

Hmm I wonder why all Dutch salad is chlorine washed ? I wonder why our drinking water has chlorine added?

If you knew the first thing about the EU you would know why they banned chlorinated chicken. It had nothing to do with chlorination per se but was because the EU felt that if producers were allowed to chlorine wash they would pay less attention to other hygiene factors.

Oh and the rates of EU salmollea are far in excess of rates in the USA

The UK is one of the world’s oldest and most experienced democracies. Together we project democratic values, argue for freedom, defend free speech and free enterprise, and stand up against dictatorships, genocides and abuse of power.

After the last 3 years I’d doubt it.

The reason I believe the Establishment do not like President Trump is because he isn’t one of them. He is not in their pocket and puts his country and countrymen first. Yes that may also lead to some bad policies but, if he believes with good reason his country is being taken advantage of (e.g. NATO contributions) then he speaks out. Name and shame is his game and the p-takers don’t like it.

I agree. The quoted paragraph is of course wrong, the first “is” should be “was”. The Palace of Westminster is a symbol of democracy lost, an international embarrassment. A clear referendum result has remained ignored for 3 years – the voice of a biased speaker, ineffective mayor and a street rabble will be heard in preference.

Yes, very sadly, both countries have disgraced themselves in the democracy department. The Remainiacs here and the Left there have refused to concede a clear democratic result, and then blamed the victims for the ensuing turmoil. No-one here knew how vicious the backlash against Brexiteers would be, and it has been the same for the Trump administration.

The globalists don’t like being shown there is a better way because it means they now have to come out into plain sight and oppose democracy in the media where everything they say and do is recorded, analysed, cross referenced and published by the public and for the public, instead of them.

The establishment has sneered at Republican US Presidents in the past too – such as David Carrington about President Reagan. This time it’s being led by the BBC’s Jon Sopel whose negativity about all things Trump has become very boring and predictable. I believe most people in the UK respect the fact that Mr Trump is actually trying to deliver what he said in his election manifesto!

Isn’t it weird ? All I hear/read on the BBC/MSM is leftist consensus news. Like it’s determined by the cosy clique that run these outlets that Trump is bad, mad and to be sneered at – the same with Brexit.

They assume everyone is thinking like them. So they ignore two democratic votes (the referendum and the EU elections) and press on with their agendas instead choosing their mandate from the antics of such as the lawless Extinction Rebellion and a sixteen-year-old climate change ‘expert’.

In the real world ordinary people are seeing through it and I’m proud of them.

Why are we waiting for Parliament to abolish the partisan BBC ? This can be done as quickly as you can say “cancel direct debit”.

Margaret Howard, False, Half the USA electorate may not approve of Trump, but half do not think he is “bad, mad and to be sneered at”. The impeachment poll ratings are 54% opposed to impeachment, 41% in favour.

Indeed. He challenges the lot of the fake news, lies and political correctness and calls out those who wear the emperors cloths. Yes he’s brash, but does anyone doubt he’s supports America and its peoples? Can the same be said of the awful May, Blair, Brown, Major or many of our politicos who put the EU before its own?

I rarely say anything bad about President Trump, where his immediate predecessor was a joke and came in for many a verbal lashing. Obama would say ‘change has come to America’ but the words didn’t quite match the reality. He turned out to be just another instrument of the liberal left and wasted a golden opportunity to reverse the decline in American living standards. President Trump has done much to put that right and strives to make America great again. If only the UK had a leader like him instead of the constant procession of weaklings and con-artists we’ve had for the past thirty years!

Donald Trump is proving to be a good president who does what he says, and I am ashamed of the political left in this country for condemning him, especially at this solemn time. Khan says of President Trump that he is like some 20th century fascist. Perhaps the mayor needs to consider how free people really are in countries where a form of prescriptive, intolerant religious fascism is highly prevalent. He might then see how ridiculous his accusation against the president really is.

The USA might not get its foreign policy exactly right on every occasion, but they are a reliable ally and always ready to come to our aid in a crisis. I would like to think we British would respond in kind, but I can’t quite imagine many of these protesting lefties having the bottle to make up the contingent. The anti-Trump liberal left are of the mistaken if not arrogant belief theirs is the only way. The sooner their influence diminishes the better, and we should join President Trump in seeing the back of them.

President Trump is incredibly popular in the USA, one reason being that he delivers on his promises, has ussered in the prosperity that capitalism delivers and defended his people and country, not because he hates other people or other countries but because he loves his people and his country. Happily he is half Scots and loves the U.K. too. I am very proud of President Trump, and his achievements. We could do with a homegrown Trump – a politician who believes in Democracy and Capitalism – what Hitler called ‘the English System’ that Mrs May and her continental colleagues did so much to trash in recent times.

According to the poll of polls dated 02/06 on projects.fivethirtyeight.com, 53.5% of American people are dissatisfied with Mr Trump, 41.5% are satisfied, remaining do not tell. I would not call that “incredibly popular”. He is popular with those who originally voted for him, as for the rest …

Trump stands and fights for is beliefs and values, he would have walked away
from the EU Long ago
Confident in the knowledge he can make his own way in the world
I am ashamed of the May government they sold us out
I am Proud Of Trump he is a true Leader
Something in this country that is in very short supply

“President Trump is incredibly popular in the USA, one reason being that he delivers on his promises, has ussered in the prosperity that capitalism delivers”

You might be interested in another view from America in yesterday’s DMail article:

Hudson Valley, United States, 1 day ago

“In just two short years our stable genius has ended the Obama recovery.

Out trade deficit has never been higher. Our farms our failing. Our soybean production has been snapped up by Brazil.

US manufacturing growth has hit a ten-year low. The US stock market is below the level it was at 18 long months ago. GDP will fall to 2.0 next quarter and we are expected to lapse into recession in 2020.

With the tariff war we started the tax burden on America’s middle and lower classes has never been higher. All this while raiding the Treasury for giveaways to the very rich and running trillion dollar deficits in “boom times”.

Indeed. The hypocritical double standards of the Left and our so called liberal elites is breathtaking. The mayor of London is merely showing his small mindedness and letting our great city down.

Once again Theresa May has demonstrated how out of touch she and her advisers were and has been completely outflanked by Nigel Farage.

Many people in this country would give their eye teeth for a leader prepared to stand up for their country and have no doubt that the EU would not have walked all over us had someone with that strength been in charge of the negotiations.

If her Majesty has invited President Trump, we should accord him some respect. I deplore the large demonstrations that are planned, to disrupt his visit, and take up time from our already overstretched Police. The Mayor of London should be ashamed of encouraging the juvenile antics. Have they nothing better to do!

What silly misguided people Sadiq Khan, Jeremy Corbyn and Speaker Bercow are. Pathetic virtue signalling from people who should know better. Hopefully it will signal very clearly to people never to elect Corbyn and to remove Khan and Bercow as soon as possible.

Grenada was going to become a basket case. In case you don’t remember, its PM, Maurice Bishop, and his cabinet were deposed and murdered by a “revolutionary and military council” who said that any Grenadians found on the streets would be shot on sight. Sometimes, order does need to be restored unless, of course, you were a supporter of that said council. So they did help out Grenada and the Commonwealth in that instance!

Margaret Howard, The EU empire that you so enthuse over is largely the product of post WW2 American policy. The “European” Movement here was even part funded by the USA. It has not been the EU that has kept the peace in Europe for 74 years (another Remain lie) but the military might of the USA.

I campaigned against the Iraq war because it would destroy an albeit imperfect civilisation, cause untold and utterly futile human misery and a refugee crisis and me and those who agreed were proven absolutely right.

I think the Americans are a lot more free of State intervention than the peoples of the UK.

May has brought in some stupid rules and laws that have restricted the rights of people to self determination, we have the highest level of taxation, loss of free speech, restrictions on comedy and she wants to restrict where we get our information and news from. And EU ‘negotiation’ culminating in that vassal state treaty was traitorous.

Corbyn wants to nationalise everything and even remove the right to own your own home. A Venezuelan type existence.

Khan has not only made London a unsafe place to live and visit, but he also blames everyone else for his failures.

Our career politicians once elected say to hell with the manifesto they were voted in, and don’t believe in democracy unless the vote goes the way they want.

Trump interestingly still maintains high popularity despite what our MSM spew out. Which is more than can be said of our ‘politicians’. He cares about his country, has acted on what he was voted in on, and this in respect stands head and shoulders above all of this sorry bunch.

I couldn’t agree more with your whole post this morning John. There is only one area I have an issue with and that is where you say the UK holds up democracy. In the case of Brexit they have failed miserably and I would love Mr Trump to point this out to the Queen, Parliament and the media. Let them know the rest of the world can see what’s going on and that they are disappointed in our nation. I am fed up with the witch hunt against Trump and that stupid man Khan who in his own way incites hatred and violence which is something London can well do without.

He’s been demonised by the liberal left fascists that now infect and populate the western media class

For these hard left and liberal left types all is political and nothing is private.

Trump is an existential threat to them. Brexit is an existential threat to them

The LL are political animals and racial and gender slanders are used to destroy their political enemies according to their race, gender and sexual orientation

Lies, propaganda and continual attacks help to demonise this white, heterosexual male

The Democrats use immigration for political and electoral gain. They don’t care for immigrants as human beings. Their concern isn’t humanitarian. Their only concern is electoral. Another immigrant is simply another Democrat voter. It is a disgusting form of abuse of people. Labour believe in the same form of appalling politics. What do the Tories do? They remain silent about this tactic. Why?

The left are hypocrites but they dominate the media and so decent, moral people simply cannot fight back against them. They’ve infected the BBC and should the Tories or the BP achieve power again I would to see a ‘no apologies’ purging of the BBC and the depoliticisation of every British institution including the Civil Service, Judiciary, police etc etc

Trump is the ultimate political enemy of the woke, liberal left and they hate him for it

Welcome President Trump and aim your fire at your enemies with an even greater venom than they aim at you

It is odd that the Left in this country obsess so much about USA. A state visit in 2015 by the Chinese president drew some protests on China’s (lamentable) human rights record but nothing like the frenzy of protest about Trump. Why is that ? Partly unconscious racism I think, they are more interested in things that happen in majority-white countries where English is spoken. Partly envy – they sneer about USA but most of them (the journalists for example) would go and work there like a shot if offered.

On the great chlorinated chicken debate – not sure if that poor little 16-year-old schoolgirl has said anything about it so we will have to make up our own minds without expert input. To be sure if we signed May’s WA (as Rory Stewart wants) and the EU signed a revived TIPP with USA then we’d have to accept it. End of story.

Donald Trump is very welcome for all that he represents as President of the USA. I have a very simplistic measuring stick for other people on a personal level. Could I spend two weeks on a yacht with them, going somewhere serious on a continuous voyage. By yacht I mean nothing more than 40 feet long. On the face of it a tricky situation, I can only guess at who would want to jump ship first. However experience tells me that judgements cannot be made until you have experienced such a real situation.

As President he deserves the greatest respect and courtesy. The fact that some fringe players such as the Speaker and Mayor Of London backed by a large slab of the chatterjng classes think otherwise only confirms their ignorance and inability to read the wider picture. It is regretable that the BBC and Ch4 are allowed to give them oxygen. The rent a crowd of the great unwashed should be isolated from the Presidents view and hearing, they only represent themselves and in the scheme of things are irrelevant.

Personally I would not wish May to even play a ball boy roll. She has emphasised her contempt for democracy in everything she has done during the past three years. She epitomises duplicitous Albion, but has excelled herself by directing that duplicity at her owm British people. Any President would know that any utterance she made was a lie based on her self interest.

When criticising Trumps style or content of expression you need to realise he is a business man, not a politician. Within the USA and UK there has been a great dirth of telling it as it is and taking actions to correct it. I find the change in style refreshing. I am tired of politicians talking it up as they want it to be in their Alice in Wonderland world of make believe.

My one contention with your offering is that the UK does not defend free speech. The UK has consistently undermined it with PC, an insidious form of thought control. In fact all the UK has achieved is to drive free speech in it’s most insidious forms to the anonimity of the internet.

I wish the President a happy, incident free visit that will be the basis of our relationship when we get a proper functioning government to a newly sovereign state.

Let’s face it – the problem with so many people hating Trump is down to one thing – He beat clinton and ruined their 16 year plan…. The intensity of that hatred is down to propaganda.

The Democrats are still calling foul for no reason other than ‘they were robbed’, but the result was the best the world could get.
Trump has brought a little sanity into politics – again, another reason to be hated – but welcome by us that see the world turning more socialist by the day.

The wonderfully democratic EU is the place where Remainers want to place our country. The totally uncorrupt EU where all the major players – M. Barnier, Sabine Weyand, M. Juncker, Guy Verhofstadt – are all utterly whiter than white and where no sexism is possible at all.
When we leave on October 31st, they say, all hell will break loose. (Did you spot the sarcasm?)
The EU has spurned us completely. They could have been nice, friendly and helpful. Instead they have been totally offhand with us even though Mrs May tried very hard to placate (appease???) them.

Then a truly democratic, friendly man arrives from one of the world’s leading real democracies where he was elected by a vote from every single person, they get frantic. When he humbly offers us a friendly trade deal, Mrs May refuses his hand of friendship. She then decides to prefer the Chinese Huawei as a nice slap across the face to someone who could be our best hope on 31st October.

Sometimes I despair. These shouty, unthinking people get their own way every time while common sense flies out of the window. Insult your friends: suck up to people who dislike you a lot.

Mrs May made many serious mistakes in her botched negotiation with the EU. One which is not spoken of enough is her refusal to start talking with the US about a free trade agreement when Donald Trump first offered one.

My understanding is there was no legal reason why we could have prepared the ground for a deal to be signed once we had left the EU. I suspect May’s desire to continue with a form of customs union with the EU meant that a free trade agreement with the US would be impractical.

Exactly, and she fell flat on her a***. Good that Trump mentioned about suing the EU again. That first reaction from TM last time spoke volumes. I am hoping for a big, embarrassing revelation to come to light during the visit which makes her feel really uncomfortable and want to crawl under a rock…

Merkel and Macron holding hands with Putin and Erdogan was without question the most vile spectacle I have seen in many a year. The hatred for Trump extends so far that Merkel and Macron would virtue signal their contempt by sharing a platform with two despots that represent all that the liberal left purport to despise

“Merkel and Macron would virtue signal their contempt by sharing a platform with two despots”

Really?

We had the Romanian dictator Ceausescu here on a 3 day state visit in 1978 when he and his vile wife Elena actually stayed at Buckingham palace and were given all the same pomp Trump is getting this week.

He was also made an honorary GCB (Knight Grand Cross of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath) by the Queen!

This vile pair were eventually put in front of a firing squad by their own people.

As usual, balanced and sensible, JR. Given the right circumstances and support Donald Trump could prove to be one of our greatest post Brexit assets. He has a deep empathy for our country. We should not tarnish this goodwill through churlish behaviour. As you say, “Welcome, Mr. President.”

The BBC through its 10 o’clock news and North American Correspondents is often critical of and denigratory of President Trump. They are the main stirrers of dislike against him.
He currently, quite rightly is being criticised for interferring and commentating on our politics. He is not the first American President to do so.
Barack Obama has warned that the UK would be at the “back of the queue” in any trade deal with the US if the country chose to leave the EU, as he made an emotional plea to Britons to vote for staying in.

@Shieldsman; You have obviously never had the misfortune to watch the BBC’s “Beyond 100 days” programme, or its forerunner, a programme so openly bias in its presenting style that it must have been singularly designed as a vehicle for its regular US based presenter to rubbish Trump.

Ian
I think/ believe that the winner is chosen by the membership from the final two candidates. Boris is very popular with members and recently the party has seen an increase in new members.
How Corbyn rose to power thanks to Miliband’s £3 membership.

But the final two candidates are chosen by the tory elite .. it can easily become a set up, Just watch the complete doom of the tories if that does happen … just imagine if Stewart or even worse Gyimah were their choice of two options. Bye bye Tories.

This will be the final nail in the coffin of the Tories if it happens, but Tory MP’s have a habit of choosing bad leaders. They haven’t chosen well since the 1980’s – everyone since useless. No-one in May’s Cabinet who is still sitting should be considered.

Indeed President Trump is welcomed by most us subjects of the Queen, though a small and unrepresentative Minority of leftists will doubtless get disproportionate airtime in the media with their protests. President Trump is right on China & trade (+probably Huawei), right to have a crack at sorting out North Korean nuclear proliferation, probably right on Iran, certainly right on opposing the tyranny and misery caused by the socialist govt in Venezuela (that favourite of Corbyn and many other leftists here). And his tax cuts, energy policy and halt in the growth of regulation show us the way to prosperity. A competent PM would have taken him up on lining up a comprehensive FTA as a backup to the EU negotiations.

Let us pause and reflect on the humbug of little weasels like Corbyn and Bercow, who are happy to line up and smile sycophantically at the dictator of China, and in Corbyn’s case at various muderous terrorists as well, but pursue a self-righteous virtue signalling ‘boycott’ of the elected leader of the world’s most important and successful democracy.

Trump brings out in full the deep-rooted anti-Americanism among sections of the left in this country, unlike say Clinton and Obama who tended to sooth their animosity. That is why we have to put with pro-EU nonsense about the threat of the Yanks charging us through the nose for medical treatment after they have made us ill with their chlorinated chicken.

By the way, no doubt to coincide with his visit the Trump haters of Channel Four are bringing us this at 8 pm tonight:

“The Truth About Chlorinated Chicken”

Of course it would be quite impossible for any UK supermarket or wholesaler to send anybody to inspect chicken farms and factories in the US before contracting to offer their products for sale in the UK.

And once those poisonous American goods were circulating in the UK, including Northern Ireland, there would be nothing to stop them being taken across the border to contaminate the Republic and the rest of the EU Single Market.

Not even if the UK declared that it had no wish to disrupt the EU Single Market and would make it illegal for hauliers to carry across goods which did not comply with EU standards, as once again proposed in this comment:

Wandering further off topic, I have had little time for Matt Hancock since he allowed some of the public to continue in the ludicrously mistaken belief that the UK government would be forced to impede imports of vital medicines from the EU if we left without a deal, but he was making sure that there would be sufficient stockpiles to see us through that self-inflicted disruption; however I read that he is proposing an “Irish Border Council” which “would aim to find a way to maintain a soft border and allow the UK to have an independent trade policy”, and that is a very good idea, although I would say an “open”, rather than “soft”, border.

“The comments triggered an immediate cross-party backlash, with Health Secretary Matt Hancock, who is vying to be the next leader of the Conservative party, insisting the NHS was “not for sale”.

He said: “My American friends, know this. The NHS is not for sale. Yes we’d love to make it cheaper to buy your life-saving pharmaceuticals – but the NHS will not be on the table in any future trade talks.”

Shadow Health Secretary Jonathan Ashworth also pounced on the “terrifying” comments, warning: “This absolutely should not be on the table. Nigel Farage and the Tories want to rip apart our publicly funded NHS. Labour will always defend it.”

And Liberal Democrat leadership contender Sir Ed Davey warned: “We must ensure that access to the NHS is not up for grabs in return for a trade deal.””

It is odder than simple anti-Americanism though with the leftist elite. Look at the arts section of a weekend broadsheet newspaper and you’ll find leftist commentators positively drooling over USA TV series, music, films, books. Look at the National Theatre in London programming entire seasons of American drama and importing American TV actors (whilst totally ignoring European talent). They’d all go and work there given half the chance. It is very strange.

Anti-Americanism is not just the preserve of the left but also the Powellite right.There is a useful summary of Enoch Powell’s views re the USA in a (google-able) paper for the LSE by Paul Corthorn “Enoch Powell and the Cold War”:

“…these international developments(Sino-Soviet split,US-China rapprochement in the 1960s)now led him to argue that Britain and the Soviet Union had became logical allies,even if they were not necessarily on friendly terms.This was a radical conclusion to reach,especially as superpower tension increased in the early 80s,but Powell nonetheless maintained it.

Powell’s position also derived from his attitude towards the US which became much more critical after 1979-the point at which M Thatcher came to power after talking up the “Special Relationship” over the previous few years.Powell’s distrust of the US dated back at least as far 1943 when he had first met American officials in North Africa and taken the view that they were trying to dissolve the British Empire.”

The article also covers US interference in Ireland and the siting of cruise missiles in the UK etc.

There is no greater example of Stockholm Syndrome than that exhibited by those who believe the USA is a trustworthy friend of the UK.

I find myself more and more in agreement with Trumps policies, whether I like him as a person is irrelevant, as it happens I do. He is attacked very personally because that is all his detractors have, like him or not he is a successful businessman, he has brought those skills into politics and is getting the job done.

“I do think we should welcome Mr Trump to understand him better”

Indeed, but do you think us mere plebs will get to understand him any better, visit or no visit, the only plebs who have got to understand him and his policies better are those who have short-circuited the usual MSM/establishment circus by going to better sources of information -and no I do not mean Fox News, Breitbart or any of the many shock-jocks found on the internet.

Jerry, Breitbart is an exemplary news service, and I use it every day. It is relatively unbiased, unlike the odious anti-democratic Remain luvvie-infested BBC that people are forced to support (if they want to watch other TV). I am not so sure about Fox, the usual knee-jerk hate of establishment groupies like yourself, because it is too statist for me. Many of the decent sensible people like Carl Benjamin or PragerU keep getting attacked, or delisted, by your friends in the media.

Indeed, Breitbart is no more biased then the BBC and only slightly less biased than Ch4 News is….

Bias is, like love, in the eye of the beholder 99% of the time, that is why Esmeralda loved Quasimodo and the BBC receives documented complaints of biased from both the right and left (sometimes even the centre) about the same political stories…

Oh and lets not bored our host to tears or worse again, no one is being forced to watch broadcast TV in the UK, and as you prove above, people can get all the ‘news’ they want via the internet or indeed radio, as for entertainment and documentaries there are all number of options these days.

@Edward2; The fact that you “like to watch ITV Channel 4 Channel 5.” is irrelevant to the law, in the same way as it would be for someone only pay 6 months VED on their car but try using it for 12 because they don’t use the Motorways and only drive in Wales!

The TVL is a licence to receive broadcast television services, not a subscription by another name to watch BBC.

The fact that the Govt legislate for the funds received to be (more or less) ring-fenced funding for the BBC is not the point. The Govt could simply get around any such arguments by collecting the fee like many other taxes or duties (such as VED) centrally and then funding the BBC out of the general taxation pot to the same amount. The TVL fee no longer ‘finds’ the BBC, but you still have the same legal duties to buy a TVL.

Jerry, The TV Tax goes to the BBC only. It is not up to you to decide I cannot watch another TV channel that is fully paid for by advertising or subscription, and therefore not sponging off other users. Nor is it up to the BBC, that den of cultural marxism and fakery which you support.

Your analogy with road use is false because God did not provide roads – the roads cost money to build and are (mostly) government owned and have to be maintained. But the atmosphere is none of those. And unlike roads there are multiple complete TV delivery systems all separate from each other.

So it is actually possible to simply charge for direct use, and avoid the corruption inherent in the sponging you defend.

By that logic then all taxes should be ring fenced and only paid by those who use the services, you might be happy not to pay for the NHS but what about Fire and Emergency, would you be happy to have too call your insurer should your house catch fire, not the national service…

Also by your logic members of CND should be allowed to withhold their income taxes because they believe it funds nuclear weapons that they do not want to be used in their name.

Someone can not drive their car on the public roads unless they pay the full due amount of VED, a ‘tax’ that is no longer ring fenced, it matters not one jot that they do not drive on Motorways, and only drive in Wales and then only on Wednesdays and Sundays

God did not create RF, man did, but if you are correct then best you tell that to BSkyB and all the other DVB-T and DVB-S subscriptions services, oh and make that the cable providers too as God did not make ethernet technology either!

As for your last sentence, again tell that to BSkyB, after all why does one have to take out subscription package for channels you do not want nor watch to be able to watch the one you do want…

APL; That was my point! Unless you know that a media outlet is biased before hand you access it how do you know that you are receiving biased opinion. Both the BBC and Brietbart are equally in error, two or more wrongs do not make it right to allow bias in news and current affairs.

“In fact of course [the BBC is] a den of socialist iniquity. “

Except that a Socialist will claim it to be a den of capitalist iniquity…

Jerry, That’s my point!! Bias is not “error” that can be corrected, least of all by futile political arguments. Bias is natural and normal, and cannot be removed no matter how hard you try. Whether the BBC has a statist or a libertarian bias will be decided by the customer. No need to argue! So if you like BBC bias then you pay for it. And don’t expect me to subsidise you. Stop trying to control what I watch.

@APL; Which rather illustrates that Capitalists don’t know what they are talking about. Capitalism: Telling people what they want and charging them a price they are obliged to pay due to ‘market forces’, conditions, often set by the market traders – not the customers.

Is this the short 24 hours, contradictory, argument or the full 7 days?!

People such as yourself and Eddie always jump into complaints about the TVL fee but never complain about how subscriptions packages work, how those wanting to watch say Premier league Football, F1 motor racing or US Baseball for example first have to pay for subscriptions for channels they do not want, biased news they do not want, before even being allowed to subscribe to the sports packages that include many others sports they also do not want either.

Have you never wondered why the subscription broadcasters have never seriously tried to rock the TVL fee boat, even when their owners had the eras of Govt, could it be that their own business model is very similar to that of the TVL fee – if looked at closely, would be found to be unsustainable also?…

Listen Jezza there is a difference which you completely fail to understand.
Sometimes I think you do it just for the fun of having a pedantic argument.
I have a choice if I want to pay for Sky or Virgin TV and numerous choices as to what packages I want to pay for.
But if I do not want BBC channels but want to watch the other freeview channels then I have still pay my TVL
And don’t give me your stupid argument about not having to watch TV
I do want to watch TV but not BBC.

@NickC; Effective regulation can and has remove bias in the past, just as due law can, has and still does remove 99% of slanderous or Libellous comment -when it fails the courts often award punitive damages as a further brickbat against other would-be offenders, why do you think our host has to waste use so much of his valuable time moderating comments on this site?

Regulation is not censorship by another name, it is quite the opposite, being a fairness doctrine, removing the ability to censor your opponents opinions from your own audience.

@Edward2; “Sometimes I think you do it just for the fun of having a pedantic argument.”

Pot, meet Kettle!

Once again, please cite the law that REQUIRES you to watch TV, you won’t because there is non. It is a choice, just as using your car on the public roads is, just as a fishing is, all require a licence, the TVL, VED or a rod licence.

He’s everything the establishment hate
Putting his own country first
Draining the swamp as he says. He’s called out the EU for Franco German protectionist racket it really is. He also wants a level playing field with China.
Westminster could learn a thing or two.
Now we have Hancock with his 5year limit on backstop. Are these people completely stupid.
I can see your manifesto when we are in the transition period with another 6years to run. You’ll be wiped out.

It is often said the UK is about 5 years behind the US when it comes to most things.
In terms of Democracy the primary reason why Mr Trump came to power was because he wasn’t the ‘Establishment’, he wasn’t part of the ‘Elite’ that believed it was their birth right to rule. Given the attitude of the UK Parliament in the last 3 years in stroking personal egos, thinking they are some kind of elite and that the establishment is destined to rule. You can see why people are now looking elsewhere for democracy to be reinstalled. Parliament is creating a UK version of Mr Trump and they have only got themselves to blame. The LibDems who were falsely elected as Conservatives have set out to destroy the Party and remove the natural trait form the UK psyche to be conservative by nature. Traitors all.

On trade we still even today have the Guardian newspaper flouting the falsehoods as to chlorinated chicken. Begging the question how many of their other items rate as ‘false news’.

The EU on trade with the US, they are upset that President Trump says that EU car exports are unfair. The US had an import duty on EU cars of 2.5% yet the EU has always demanded a 400% increase on that for traffic from the US to the EU. The EU says parity is unfair!

Not forgetting that the primary purpose of the EU as a trading block is one of protectionism.

People who love the concept of establishment, those that see we need an actual Political Class along with the Left leaning Media, hate Mr Trump because he highlights what is wrong with their aspirations. In reality these are the same people that talk democracy and law yet preach and contrive its destruction. The World is right when it agrees with them and any challenges, alternative views are labelled as right-wing extremism. Which is weird in that most right-wing grouping are to the left of Carl Marx.

Only a luddite wouldn’t open up, be polite and accept there are alternative views. So yes President Trump as head of state should be welcomed and shown the same respect and hospitality we would expect given to ourselves.

America is a great nation. and a bastion of the truth that brings freedom (albeit under vicious attack from all sides). Mr Trump has resisted some of the forces that are behind America’s fall from grace – he is a ‘gutsy’ phenomenon, raised up for this crucial hour. His pro-Israel and pro-life stance are two key factors that resonate with the good people of America, but infuriate the left. The pedigree of his detractors are as telling as any faults of the man himself.
The outcry of certain prominent people in the UK illustrates this and is despicable – who do they think they are? They do not speak for us! We now have sinister enemies of freedom in high places!

We’re infested with the left over here. Look at all the political correct BS we’re being put through with marriage, minorities, sexual orientation, how we think, what we say etc etc. Had enough. No more the left have to be put back in their box! Common sense and truth needs to come back.

The USA is many things but democracy is not one of them. Their politicians are even less responsive and responsible than ours. Corporations and banks run America. The United States has been at war for all but about 5 years of it’s entire history so keeping the peace is absolutely not it’s priority. The very last things the UK and UK promote is freedom and democracy, both are conspiring the start wars and engaged in torturing Julian Assange, neither of which backs up your claims. Trump is controversial as part of the ongoing stage show of US politics (divide and rule) but it makes little difference to US government policy which puppet is in the White House. As a long time, very experienced, politician I have to conclude your promotion of demonstrably false ideas can only be one of two things. Either it is wilful deception of the gullible public or self deception. I’m not sure which of those things is worse. The world has had way too much of deception and what we need now is the cold hard white light of truth and reality.

Alex, You’re really a “long time, very experienced, politician”?? Good day to you, Sir, I am Napoleon Blownapart. Your “cold hard white light of truth and reality” looks more like a drunken ramble through a forty year old copy of the Socialist Worker.

The Referendum and the election of Trump show just how shaky “ democracy” is in both UK and US.
Two “ wrong” decisions that no amount of the usual chicanery could avert.
( In fact were we even previously aware of the tricks played to get the “right” answer?).
Since the US election and the Referendum we have witnessed the worst behaviour ever. Totally unbelievable.
Of course Mr Trump should be welcomed and we should have a proper leader who can behave comme il faut when we have visitors!!!

There needs to be a World Cup for democracy and free speech so that
our conception of ourselves can be tested on the international stage. We keep
making extravagant claims about how good we are at them, but there is no
mechanism for scrutinising these claims. A friendly match with Hungary should
yield the truth. We would probably lose 7-1 again.

No doubt the empty vessels will all be out there making a lot of noise and waving their placards when the President arrives – without any notion of what they’re protesting about.

As Mr T said of himself, just before his election, he is not a politician and therefore people would not like things he’d say or the way he’d say them. I liked that. We are beset here with weasel words from our own ‘leaders’.

In any event, he’s not OUR leader, but the chosen one of our ally. These shallow nitwits who complain of him should consider how it would be if the US ‘pulled up the drawbridge’ and told the rest of us we were on our own. Then see how the world would cope without the manifest power of the USA to moderate the nutcases.

I hope the Conservatives will prove to be more sensible than they’ve been thus far and choose for us a PM who can engage with the President in a statesmanlike way.

JR, That was very well said – measured, reasonable, and non-partisan. Thank you. It is indeed up to the Americans what politicians they elect, not us. And it is a welcome change that the USA is interfering less in other countries.

Yuk! what a load of old tosh- Trump cares not one iota about democracy or harmony or the world order, he’s a wrecker of all things good, with no respect for anyone- not even for himself- cringe- if I were American I’d be ashamed to be represented by such an idiot.

Those who say such personally insulting things as this about someone CHOSEN by his people as their President – well. What can we say? You use the word ”ashamed” – I think many of us agree we are ashamed that someone like you might actually believe you speak for the rest of us.

You are obviously ill-informed and ignorant of what you speak. You doubtless click ”like” on Facebook and smugly consider yourself knowledgeable. I daresay you don’t have much self-perception, otherwise you’d realise that you should be embarrassed once you reconsider what you’ve written.

The answer to many of your rhetorical questions Sir John is that we are now ruled by the mob. A seething mass of ill educated malcontents beset by ignorance and prejudice, who make noise completely disproportionate to their numbers or their significance on telly and on social media. Welcome to the United Kingdom in the twenty first century.

Another topic that exorcises the activists is President Trumps stance on the changing climate. The BBC and various stooges calling him a denier. In my view that is another reason to cross someone off the leadership contest list. Unlike our virtue signalling parliamentarians he does not want to see his country de-industrialised to the benefit of his competitors.

So many mini Khans too, like Majid Nawaz, scornfully calling the President and Boris “those two blonde mopheads.” Can you imagine the fuss if Obama and someone similar here had been referred to by Boris when Mayor in that sort of way? You can’t, because it is unthinkable.

It seems to me the fury the left have worked themselves up into is artificial. Take the so-called Moslem travel ban. This was a statute passed by Obama and applied to seven failed states, including one non moslem one. The visas couldn’t be guaranteed by the governments in the normal way. It was to last for three months. Even Nadim Zahawi got himself worked up over that.

Then there was the infamous private tape. This was the basis of the misogyny charge which powers at least half of the propaganda. I listened to it and it was clear to me he was being rather naive about women, not disrespectful or hateful, just saying it was amazing what they would let you do if you were rich and famous. The rest of us have known that since the sixties when the groupie first appeared.

On disability, and racism, again these are fabricated grievances to lengthen the list of charges.

The charge of fascism rests on the events at Charlottesville. Again, if you study the actual videotapes rather than the media reports, you will come to a different conclusion about where the violence was. He was in fact being kind to the Left and letting them off the hook.

Jeremy Hunt this morning said it was a time to set party politics aside, and party politics is what this whole hate campaign is about. It is not about the real President Trump, nor does it represent the country. We are just so lucky that when we are leaving a hostile EU we suddenly find we have the most Anglophiliac President in the White House there has ever been, one who is actually half Scottish and not the SNP type of Scotsman.

I am sorry to read some of your constituents think they dislike President Trump to the point of making it known to you. I thought Wokingham was a grown up, responsible, patriotic sort of place which would see the big picture.

These silly protesters are no friends of our economy given the importance of a potential Free Trade Deal with the United States.
I very much hope that none of them is so daft as to “milk-shake” Mr Trump as they are very likely to find themselves being shot, because his security team are trained to react as rapidly as possible and are in the main very tough, seasoned members of the armed forces.
I don’t think the Mayor of London is exactly trying to calm passions in this regard.
I hope the President has a pleasant and fruitful stay.

A wall has been the traditional way to keep out invaders for millennia. It is very clear that those people whom JR likes to characterise as ‘migrants’ are, in fact, invaders. We ourselves do not need to build a wall because we are “this fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection…”. Despite this natural advantage, our capital city has already fallen to the invaders and their leader has already upset the US President by his discourteous attacks on behalf of his fellow invaders.

Sadly, I believe you’re right, Forthurst.
That our own capital city’s mayor should be so brazenly hostile and defamatory to a visitor makes most of us feel deeply embarrassed. Fortunately, Mr Trump is a real leader and won’t be fazed by these silly little slings and arrows flung by such an insolent pipsqueak and his motley contingent.

Comparing the word “invader” to “migrant” is quantitatively interesting (I am making no ethical comparison here, just quantitative).

The Spanish Armada had a strength of about 24,000 this is only about one third of the current net number of illegal immigrants per year estimated by migration watch (100k in 30k out). The Armada strength equated to about 5% of the E&W population at the end of the 16th Century, a percentage similar to the net non-British immigration at the present time. (I state again I am making no ethical comparison here, just giving a feeling for the numbers)

Caterpillar, There are over 9 million people in the UK who were not born here (ONS). That amounts to 13.6% of a 66 million population. Likely the population is larger (72m?), but if so the extras are mostly also not born here. So we’re looking at around 20% I would think.

I like immigrants – both my wife’s parents were immigrants, and my grandfather too. But they worked and did not sponge or try to change their host country. And 15m or even 9m is too many too quickly.

Yes, I was comparing the annual change in percentage terms to that of an ‘invading’ force to take MarkB’s metaphor one more step. I think even the number of illegal migrants is estimated at 1 million.

It is strange today that the Chancellor denies the numbers in poverty but alluded to the market failing people. It is surprising he does not recognise that if an immigrant adds less to GDP than GDP per capita, then there is less to go around. It is strange that he doesn’t recognise that if an immigrant adds more to GDP but his/her income is less than GDP per capita then inequality is (likely)/increasing. It is strange that he does not know of the (likely) association of immigration with a reduction in host nation social mobility.

As you indicate, none of this says immigration is wrong, but it does say (1) a country needs to decide it’s balance between existing and new residents, (2) a country needs to consider the complexity and heterogeneities attached to immigration.

China ,for most of the second millenium(with the exception of c200 years of the Ming dynasty)was ruled by non-Han invaders from the Tartar north -Kitans,Jin,Mongols,Manchu.Each of these peoples amounted to a tiny fraction of the Chinese population yet were available to take over relatively easily-and the Great Wall wasn’t much use as a defence either!

I like him too! I like the fact that it’s obvious he is all for his country, and he is in the enviable position of being able to help it. Not in it for himself (he’s rich) but for how he perceives its well being. I love the way he is probably the only person in the world who would be ALLOWED to take down our Mr Khan a (richly deserved) peg or two.
How I wish we too had someone (at the moment that we need a someone) who is comfortably-off, self-made, altruistic, selfless, committed………..

I’ve just seen that John Bercow, Corbyn and Cable are not attending the dinner. Oh, jolly good, that should make it a much more pleasant affair!! To think that Corbyn could be our future PM is not a good feeling. They all show now respect for Trump and the USA could be a future trading partner. Kahan says London is open for business. Well, he’s going a strange way about showing it. Idiots the lot of them. I am sick of virtue politics and the numpties we have in office.

Purge the Trump hating BBC. A media organisation that is consumed by the politics of race, gender and sexuality. It’s become a stain on a nation outside of London

Moreover, purge Labour’s liberal left client state

And tell Gove and Johnson we won’t be deceived by their nonsense today about a Brexit with a deal or no deal. There is no Brexit with a deal. Brexit is Brexit on WTO terms. A deal is not leaving the EU.

These two careerists have in effect exposed themselves and the unprincipled behaviour.

Did you see Simon Schama being interviewed by the BBC outside Buckingham Palace? His visceral hatred of Trump was causing him to lose his temper. I wonder why the BBC chose to interview him. I turned over to Sky, who were interviewing Alastair Bruce, whose knowledge is immense and whose manners are impeccable.

We voted to leave the EU we did not vote to join the US. If we are to be truly independent then we need to be completely free to trade with whomever we wish and not be tied solely into a US trade agreement.

Also if we are not careful the US will draw us into another war, this time against Iran- i got a glimpse today of John Bolton hiding in the shadows- Wow’ – now there’s trouble

The sneering metropolitan class dislike Trump because of his brash style. They dislike his direct approach and the way that he does what he says he will do, when he is allowed to. His manners upset them. Yet they display the most appalling manners in refusing to meet him and and organising childish insults.
A Southern American lady called Nigel on his radio show yesterday and pointed out that he is a New Yorker and New Yorkers don’t have manners. He is also a property developer and they are among the most ruthless commercial operators. They know how to do deals. Let’s hope that TBP finds some MPs who understand that giving your best hand away before starting to negotiate is not the best idea. Our MPs are truly clueless.

This moment Sky News is doing one of its normal, haven’t- got-a- studio outside broadcasts speaking to a gentleman with a polished English accent one hears from such a gentlemen at Royal events and nowhere else, speaking about The Dinner “where the Royal Cellar ” will provide exquisite wines, some of them French.
Trump doesn’t drink alcohol.

For the rest of their on-the-spot news, each journalist carried with him three smartphones and spoke of immediate news from their network, well no, it was from Twitter.
They’re real Beauties Sky News

“Sajid Javid criticised for calling Ireland ‘tail that wags the dog’ on Brexit”

Well, the goods exported from Northern Ireland to the Irish Republic over the land border amount to about 0.1% of UK GDP, and yet because the Irish government made such an artificially exaggerated fuss about it Theresa May seized the opportunity to agree that 100% of the UK and its economy would remain under swathes of EU laws in perpetuity, which in any case is what she and the CBI and other lobby groups wanted.

I myself have used that kind of phraseology, for example on January 14th 2018:

You can tell that she wanted it to happen because she says that persuading the EU to let us put the whole UK under EU regulation, instead of them just splitting off NI, is a success! Either that or she is completely deranged, which would be her best defence in the event of an investigation.

In London and in general conversation in the UK everyone loves to agree with each other, makes for such an easy life. Ooo yes Trump’s a baddy, his twitterings are grievous, what a ….. then behind closed doors in the polling booth many would vote for him, we’ve learnt nothing more in this Country in the past decade but to keep your mouth shut, don’t argue politics with the left they don’t want debate they want to stifle your point of view with their nastiness, ganging up passive aggressiveness, their witch hunts and it’s time someone called time on the vile lot of them but no-one dares because when challenged they gang up and finish people off and make a big fanfare of the great enjoyment they have about ending people’s careers, their reputations, their standing and honour and we all just stand aside thinking if I say anything they’ll come after me next, so Take Care John.

On a strictly personal level, I loathe Donald Trump because of his conduct (both in his personal and not-as-successful-as-alleged business life) long before he became President – but he is what the US system of candidate selection has presented to the world.

But then I feel the same way about Mrs Clinton, whose actions over many years leave much to be desired (I am trying to be tactful).

I recall earlier State visits to the UK from Presidents Ceausescu and Mugabe, amongst other lovely chaps, and as John says, you honour the office not the individual.

We should keep our allies. The Americans voted him in to represent the USA .They were obviously fed up with the too left state of affairs and made their stand. They thought he was the strength they needed and whilst Trump remains it is the USA who are visiting.

Also don’t wash your vegetables in non-chlorinated water, No spring water! Don’t wash even your lettuce and lentils under well-chlorinated tap water unless you run your cold tap for several minutes, it loses much chlorine, much of it ,within 24 hours standing, Fresh=danger!
Don’t wash under a shower head cold water flowand certainly not hot water tap water. Look it up! Legionaires disease and much more!
Stop being green at the gills and wet behind your ears! In fact keep away from your earholes even to scratch them during food preparation. You can’t imagine what lurks there!
Otherwise Bon appetit! Dobrá chuť,
I’ve been everywhere man! I stayed alive! No bad tummy for me! A large glass of strong Russian vodka at each bite may work, if it doesn’t, you’ll never know for certain! 🙂

It is a country I have held a deep affection for since childhood.. I’ve spent many years there and learned pretty much all there is to learn about American history, politics and culture.

I loathe Donald Trump.

He is the most un-American man ever to be president. A small, bigoted man who fails to understand even the most basic values on which his country was founded.

And, incidentally, this is not a left or right thing. Trump is not really a Republican either.

Many genuine Republicans, including the late great Republican hero John McCain and both presidents Bush – rightly consider him a huge threat to the US. He is an evil man – and we should not be reducing ourselves to the gutter he inhabits.

But we are because of Brexit – and the fact that some of Brexit’s main proponents, including Farage, come from the same place.

Fortunately Andy you are allowed to hold these opinions andy due to the sacrifices many brave men and women made back in the 1940’s.
You are also able to make them public without there being a knock on your door by the State.
Calling the duly elected President evil and a huge threat is ridiculous.
But I am really looking forward to when President Trump is re elected to a second term and watching you get even more angry.

The left-wing hysteria against Trump is irrational. Trump has not said or done anything racist or sexist, but the left wing think that if they can say “racist” and “sexist” enough times, then that is what Trump will be. It’s a form of bullying. They want to bully the democratically elected head of our closest ally, purely in order to advertise their own left-wing credentials. It’s despicable.

It is quite insulting that Mr Khan believes he speaks for the entire UK when he is the Mayor of one of the few, yet most influential parts, that is clearly Remain and anti-Trump.
He has done the nation’s economic interests absolutely no favours by putting in jeopardy the possibility of a Free Trade Agreement and is no friend of our country.
I would suggest that he is only interested in his furthering political career among a nest of hysterical reactionaries and has an ego that far exceeds his worth.

Just a remainder: Mr Trump won the electoral college vote by 304 to 227 to H. Clinton, whereas in the popular vote he only got 62,984,828 votes (46.1%) to 65,853,514 (48.2%) to his opponent. Something like a “beauty” of the USA presidential voting system where the electoral college election is “some kind of FPTP” for some states and more proportional in others.
This might explain why the Democrats continue to be so “upset” with the present PotUS.

More people in England voted Conservative than Labour in 2005 at least, I am not sure if it happened in other elections too, yet we got Blair and didn’t hardly mentioned it. The system is the system, until it is changed…which the way things are going might be necessary soon.

I respect your stance on respecting the President as he embarks on the state visit; an instrumental aspect of international relations, regardless of the differences between said leaders.

However, your justification for respecting President Trump in his decisions and as a president was that it was his authority, which was bestowed upon him in 2016. Yet one surely cannot rely on that reason, because Trump simply was not voted in by a majority of his electorate. Democracy equals ‘rule by the people’, which we have translated into a majority of a certain population. Some believe, and some have proven, that Trump is in fact abusing his status of power to harm the minority, namely immigrants, for the sake of economic prosperity. It is not difficult to class this as an ‘arbitrary’ sentiment, a characteristic which comes under the umbrella of Hailsham’s ‘electoral dictatorship.’

I agree that the UK should respect a controversial ally’s state visit, but not because of democracy, because of the future. We put either country’s future before their leaders. It is a necessity to engage with controversial leaders to know how our country works together effectively; so we do not isolate ourselves from the global spectrum for the sake of one leader. So we learn the workings and effects of the people and system which enabled the leader to gain power in the first place. I do hope you take this into consideration.

Your argument is ridiculous anna.
The USA election system has been in operation for decades.
The rules are well understood.
Did you moan when your preferred candidate won under the same system?
No you did not.
PS
It is only illegal immigrants the President is trying to reduce.

I am fully aware of that, thank you. You know, I really do think that ridiculous is a tad harsh do you not? I am fully aware the rules are well understood of the US system, which sort of makes the whole palava worse does it not that people are accepting this blatant disregard for the public opinion? And no, I did not moan the last time a preferred candidate won, because I have never been able to vote. I have only seen the system from the outside and I think it just dreadful. Also, no. Trump is trying to reduce illegal immigrants, but is at the same time calling any Mexican immigrant a drug pusher or a prostitute. Not nice is it? Unless you don’t mind, which is perfectly up to you of course….

Thanks for the advice. I have actually studied the US system for 2 years so I am well aware how it works. Do you not ever think that just because the Founding Fathers designed it that way that it is right? They were working in an entirely different political climate with different needs, how can it apply now…

About John Redwood

John Redwood won a free place at Kent College, Canterbury, and graduated from Magdalen College Oxford. He is a Distinguished fellow of All Souls, Oxford. A businessman by background, he has set up an investment management business, was both executive and non executive chairman of a quoted industrial PLC, and chaired a manufacturing company with factories in Birmingham, Chicago, India and China. He is the MP for Wokingham, first elected in 1987.